ori orisa consciousness by iyanla vanzant

I often wonder if I am the only person who readily admits, when I got initiated, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. My experience with YORUBA culture had been through the dance and music. It seemed only natural that I would embrace the spiritual and religious philosophy. So I did, not because I understood it, but because it was the thing to do. I also admit, that my lack of understanding,information and reverence for the intangible energy of ORISA, cost me dearly.

As I think back, what I knew about the priesthood was that once I was initiated, people would bow down to me (salute); when the white sheet went up, I would be on the inside rather than the outside; I would be able to eat at the table with the priests before everyone else ate; I would have my own godchildren; and that ORISA would speak to me. As I was initiated in the Santeria tradition, I was also primed and ready to be possessed, since that seemed to be a prerequisite to being a good priest.

Further retarding my understanding of initiation was the fact that I was one of those people who had to be made. I was told if I was not initiated, something horrible would happen to me. No one ever told me what it was, but they, and I were convinced that it would happen. Frantically, I borrowed, begged and gathered up the thousands of dollars required. I went into the room frightened, confused, desperate, totally unprepared and economically devastated.

My year as IYAWO was equally frantic to my initiation. By the end of my year, I was no longer affiliated with my godparents. (Thats another article for another time). Suffice it to say that I was left lost and unprepared. I remember the first time I ventured to peer into my ORISA pots. I had been forbidden by my Godmother to ever touch, much less open the beautiful ceramic dishes. On my first birthday, with her gone, somebody had to do the propers. Cautiously, with my eyes squeezed shut, I took off the lids. When I finally mustered up the courage to look, I was horrified! I couldnt believe what I was looking at. Call the police! Ive been ripped off! Theres nothing in this pot that can speak to me! Theres nothing in these pots but... If youve got pots, you know what I saw. I did what any ill-prepared, confused person would do; I cried.

Theres an old saying, If you want to know the end, look at the beginning. My first three years as a priest brought into manifestation all of the confusion, misunderstanding and hysteria which had surrounded my initiation. I had no idea of what I was doing. I watched and

mimicked other priests with no idea or understanding of the metaphysical principles they obviously knew. As an ORISA orphan, bouncing around from place to place, picking up a little here and a little there, my methods were scattered. My understanding eclectic at best. Then I made the ultimate mistake for a confused priest, I initiated someone else. I thought I had finally made it into the big time. I was on my way, I thought, up. I found out, I was on my way down and out of the darkness.

Theres a basic principle about motherhood, even in ORISA. Mothers want to give their children the best. They do not want their children to suffer or experience the trials and hard times in life. I wanted the best for my IYAWO. I wanted to be the best mother I could be. I wanted to give her the best, do the best by her. Unfortunately, I did not know how to give it to her. I was unprepared. I was confused. I was lost.

But because ORISA is merciful, just and in control, they have a way of coming in and making sure your prayers are answered. My prayer was:

Dear OBATALA: Please help me do the right thing. Please show me how to be a priest. Please make me worthy to wear your crown and raise your daughter. Please put the right thoughts in my mind and point my feet in the right direction.

Because I had so little understanding, I did not know that OBATALA really heard me and would really answer. My answer came in the form of my goddaughter leaving my house and taking nearly all my godchildren with her. It came in the form of scandal and disgrace. It came in the form of everything I thought I knew about ORISA being proved to be wrong. It came in the form of isolation. It was the best thing to ever happened to me. It brought me to a place I call ORISA Consciousness, the place I live today.

ORISA do not come to make life better for you. They exist to make you better for life. Life is a gift from OLODUMARE. At any point in time, there are 14 million souls waiting for a body. They want to come to earth to manifest the glory of life. Those of us who are fortunate enough to

receive a body, have a responsibility to life. We must live it to the fullest, in alignment with the Divine Will, sharing and giving the gifts we have been given, for the betterment of humankind. Few of us have that understanding. That includes those of us who are priests. Somewhere along the path, we get the idea that life owes us; that we are in control and that the world and everybody in it should be the way we want it to be.

Our early life is so wrought with power struggles, self-denial, debasement and fear, we rarely consider life beyond what we need and/or want to survive in our limited environment. We are not taught universal law and principles. We are not taught that we are divine manifestations of the Most High Creator and that we have the divine right to love, peace, happiness and abundance. We are taught that we must struggle, fight and keep others from getting what we think we want.

We are taught to think of life and ourselves as limited. We are not taught metaphysical principles such as the power of thought and word. We are not taught that we create our own experiences as learning tools in accordance with the lesson we have come to life to learn. We grow up believing that someone is out to get us; that God is too busy to hear us and that if we dont follow a prescribe way of thinking, we are doomed. Then we become priests, bringing the same misguided notions into the sacred order.

My prayer to Obatala led me to the understanding, in order to build up you must tear down. I had brought so much garbage into my priesthood, it had to be discarded. It was necessary for that process to begin in my own consciousness. I had to take a long hard look at me, not my parents or godparents; not the ORISA community. Not even what I had been told was right or wrong. I had to tell the truth to myself about myself. That was a long, hard, ugly process but I knew it was the only way to get rid of the garbage and create an evolution of consciousness.

Next, I had to come to the understanding of who or what OBATALA was not what was in the pot; but the nature, the energy, the divinity. I had to understand how that force manifested throughout nature. What was the duty and responsibility of the OBATALA nature with regards to the rest of the universe. Everything OLODUMARE makes is purposeful.

What was OBATALAs purpose? And, how could I bring myself into alignment with that purpose? This took a great deal of observation; surrender of judgment or criticism and a great deal of faith. I had not been taught to trust myself or my thoughts.

What I did not understand was that my thoughts could no longer be my own; I was a limited human. OBATALA was a divine force. I had to move out of the way and let the nature, force and purpose of OBATALA manifest through me. That was my purpose in the priesthood; to bring for the divine energy of ORISA to the earth plane.

ORISA consciousness meant that every move I made, I made by asking the question, What would OBATALA do in this situation? Each time I opened my mouth to speak, I had to consider the same. OBATALA had to become the foundation of every aspect of my life; not just on weekends at bembes or initiations. I had no idea at the onset that the priesthood would totally encompass my life. I had not been taught that. It all seemed so easy. I came to realize that the only way through was to surrender everything I had ever been taught as a human. And, the only way to surrender was to commit every aspect of my life to the nature of OBATALA -order, discipline, humility, silence, patience and service. As I began to do that, as my consciousness began to expand, my entire life changed, as did I.

Eventually, I came to the understanding that coming to the priesthood unprepared was the way I chose (spiritually) to get to where I needed to be. There was not fault or blame. By giving power (ASE) to my human garbage, my godparents blessed me. They placed me in a position where I was forced to choose between the potential destruction of myself or the elimination of garbage. I do not however take the credit for my evolution. I know it is only through the nature, grace and consciousness of OBATALA that I survive.

Today, I am not one of the guys. I no longer have the desire to do the things which were at one time so very important to me. There are times when that is hard. I no longer have opinions or fears or the need to struggle to survive. As long as ORISA is, I am. Very often I ask myself, Is it worth it? I am not at the end yet so I really dont know. I have moved away from family, friends and the normal people I know, to live almost in seclusion. That can be lonely. I choose to see it as purposeful. The greatest benefit I receive is that each morning when I wake up and go to my temple and pour libation and say, OBATALA, how can I serve you today? something happens in my mind.

I know that everything I do and say will be an ordered sequence of events which will have an effect on the universe. I am because ORISA is! All that ORISA is, I am! Can you imagine? That blows my mind and gives purpose to my life. Its a matter of choice. Its a matter of consciousness.

ADUPE! ADUPE! ADUPE! BABA MI.

Commentary: Unfortunately, this is the difficult experience of most Americans when they choose the path of Ifa. Without denigrating our ancestors from Cuba who kept the religion alive for 400 years in Cuba, the religion as expressed in santeria has been corrupted. Too often people are told that the Orisha will bring you harm or death if you don't get initiated, or that an Orisha is mad at you. This is nonsense, obviously. How can a force of nature be mad at you? we are talking about energies, not demons for christ sake. because of the mixing in of Catholic dogma, Santeria in many ways is contrary to Ifa scripture and belief. The two religions are completely different. So many instead of embarking on the difficult task of spiritual transformation, must first go through all the unnecessary hardship experienced by Iya'nla Vanzant.

OBATALA- Ifa and the Chief of the Spirit of the White Cloth

Obatala is the Spirit of the Chief of the White Cloth in the West African religious tradition called Ifa. The word Obatala is the name given to describe a complex convergence of Spiritual Forces that are key elements in the Ifa concept of consciousness. Those Spiritual Forces that form the foundation of Obatalas role in the Spirit Realm relate to the movement between dynamic and form as it exists throughout the universe, According to Ifa, dynamics and form represent the polarity between the Forces of expansion and contraction. Together these Forces create light and darkness, which in turn sustains and defines all that is. Ifa teaches that it is the interaction between light and darkness that generates the physical universe, and it is Obatala who brings this interaction into Being.

There is no literal translation for the word Ifa. It refers to a religious tradition, and understanding of ethics, a process of spiritual transformation and a set of scriptures that are the basis for a complex system of divination.

Within the discipline of Ifa, there is a body of wisdom called awo, which attempts to preserve the rituals that create direct communication with Forces in Nature. Awo is a Yoruba word that is usually translated to mean secret. Unfortunately, there is no real English equivalent to the word awo, because the word carries strong cultural and esoteric associations. In traditional Yoruba culture, awo refers to the hidden principles that explain the Mystery of Creation and Evolution. Awo is the esoteric understanding of the invisible forces that sustain dynamics and form within Nature. The essence of these forces are not considered secret because they are devious, they are secret because they remain elusive, awesome in their power to transform and not readily apparent. As such they can only be grasped through

direct interaction and participation. Anything which can be known by the intellect alone ceases to be awo.

The primal inspiration for awo is the communication between transcendent Spiritaul forces and human consciousness. This communication is believed to be facilitated by the Spirit of Esu, who is the Divine Messenger. Working in close association with Esu is Ogun, who is the Spirit of Iron. Ogun has the power to clear away those obstacles that stand in the way of spiritual growth.According to Ifa, the work done by Ogun is guided by Ochosi, who as the Spirit of the Tracker has the ability to locate the shortest path to our spiritual goals. The essential goal that Ochosi is called upon to guide us towards is the task of building iwa-pele, which means good character. This guidance takes the form of a spiritual quest which is called iwakiri. One of the functions of Obatala is to preserve the Mystic Vision for those who make the quest of iwakiri in search of iwa-pele.

The power of Obatala is described by Ifa as one of the many Spiritual Forces in Nature which are called Orisha. The word Orisha means Select Head. In a cultural context, Orisha is a reference to the various Forces in Nature that guide consciousness.

According to Ifa, everything in Nature has some form of consciousness called Ori. The Ori of all animals, plants, and humans is believed to be guided by a specific Force in Nature(Orisha) which defines the quality of a particular form of consciousness. There are a large number of Orisha, and each Orisha has its own awo.

The unique function of Obatala within the realm of Orisha Awo (Mysteries of Nature) is to provide the spark of light that animates consciousness. To call and Orisha the Chief of the White Cloth is to make a symbolic reference to that substance which makes consciousness possible. The reference to White Cloth is not a reference to the material used to make the cloth, it is a reference to the fabric which binds the universe together. The threads of this fabric are the multi-leveled layers of consciousness which Ifa teaches exist in all things on all levels of Being. Ifa teaches that it is the ability of Forces of Nature to communicate with each other, and the ability of humans to communicate with Forces in Nature that gives the world a sense of spiritual unity. It is the understanding of this ability which gives substance to the Ifa concept of good character, and it is Obatala who guides us towards developing this understanding.

Ifa teaches that all Forces in Nature come into Being through the manifestation of energy patterns called Odu. Ifa has identified and labeled different Odu which can be thought of as

different expressions of consciousness. But because consciousness itself is generated by Obatala, every Odu contains an element of Obatalas ase(power).

In metaphysical terms, this means that all of Creation is linked to Obatala as the Source of Being. Ifa teaches that all forms of consciousness contain a spark of ase(spiritual power) from Obatala, and it is this spark that links everything that is, to its shared Beginning.

ALO IRINTAN OBATALA- (Folktales of the Spirit of the Chief of the White Cloth)

OBATALA IRIN-AJO IKOLE ARE- The Chief of the White cloth travels to Earth

Olodumare(The Creator) called Obatala(Chief of White Cloth) to Ikole Orun(the Realm of the Ancestors) on the day that he wanted to create dry land on the waters of the Ikole Aye(Earth). Obatala kneeled before Olodumare and said that he did not know the awo(mystery) of creating land on Ikole Aye(Earth). Olodumare told Obatala that he would give him the ase(power) to make land on Ikole Aye(Earth).

Ogun took all the iworo(gold) and forged a long ewon(chain), which he flung towards Ikole Aye(earth). Obatala placed his ase (power in a pouch and began the descent down the ewon(chain). When he came to the last rung he could see that he was still some distance from the primal waters.

Obatala removed the igbin(snail) shell from his pouch and sprinkled soil upon the primal waters. Then he removed the five toed etu(guinea hen) and dropped it in the land. As soon as the etu(guinea hen) reached the soil it started scratching the ground, spreading dirt across the surface of the primal waters. Seeing the ground had become firm, Obatala removed an ikin(palm nut) and dropped it on the land. The ikin(palm nut) sprouted and became a palm tree. When the palm tree grew to its full height, it reached the last ring of the iworo won(gold chain). Obatala was able to step from the ewon(chain) to the palm tree.

After climbing down the tree, Obatala started to mold humans from the clay in the earth. As he worked, he became tired and decided that he needed a rest. Taking the fruit from the palm tree, he made palm wine and drank until he was ready to return to work. The humans that he molded while drunk did not look like the others, but Obatala did not notice and he kept drinking until he fell asleep.

While Obatala slept, Olodumare gave the task of finishing Creation to Oduduwa (Owner of the Womb of Creation). Olodumare waited for Obatala to awaken from his drunken sleep and told him that it was taboo from Obatala to taste palm wine ever again. When Obatala saw what had happened to the humans he had created while he was drunk, he agreed to protect all children for future generations. It was Obatala who said that he would never again let his White Cloth become soiled.

To this day those that worship Obatala say, Obatala o su nna ala, Obatala o ji nnu ala, Obatala o tinu ala dide, Iba Obatala, which means, The Chief of White Cloth sleeps in white, the chief of the White Cloth awakens in white, the chief of the White cloth gets up in white, praise to the Chief of the White Cloth.

Commentary: The word Obatala translates to mean Chief of the White Cloth. In metaphysical terms White Cloth is the primal source of the physical universe. Ifa teaches that light becomes transformed into darkness and that darkness becomes transformed into light. Within the unfolding if this transformation, Evolution creates greater and greater levels of complexity. The original explosion that created the universe produced massive quantities of light in the form of subatomic particles. As the universe cooled these particles joined together to form simple elements. The elements in turned joined together to form stars. In time, certain stars collapsed, forming black holes that imploded on themselves until they created a fission reaction. This sent huge clouds of complex elements throughout the universe. It was a cloud of complex elements that cooled to form the solor system, and within the solor system evolved the ecosystem that exists in earth.

The Myth of Obatala is the Ifa version of this sequence of events. It uses symbolic language to describe a series of evolutionary events that match closely with the theories of Creation that have been proposed by contemporary Western science. At the beginning of the Myth, Olodumare gives Obatala the instruction to create the world. Olodumare represents all potential form that exists in the universe as it remains dormant prior to manifestation. It is the White Cloth or light particles of Obatala that bring potential form into physical existence. Western science teaches that all of Creation evolved from the light produced during the primal explosion at the beginning of time. Ifa teaches that all Creation evolved from the White Cloth of Obatalas a robe.

The chain used by Obatala to travel from the Realm of the Ancestors to Earth appears to be a symbolic representation of the structure used to transmit genetic information from one generation to the next. The genetic code that is used to form each species is passed through a biochemical substance called DNA. When DNA is viewed under a microscope it appears as a

double helix, which is similar to the pattern of a chain. In Ifa scripture the reference to the Realm of the Ancestors includes all those Natural Forces that led to the development of human life and is not limited to human form. In Western science that DNA which exists in mammals is believed to be an extension of a chain of transmission from single cell life forms at the bottom of the ocean to complex life forms that populate the earth.

When Obatala climbs down the chain towards land, he takes soil a from snail shell. The shape of the snail shell is a pattern that recurs throughout Nature. The early Greeks called this pattern the Golden Mean. It is a series of expanding circles that get progressively larger at a steady rate. This growth pattern occurs in trees, plants, and sea life. It is the same pattern that regulates the distance of planets from the sun. The snail shell as a sacred object associated with Obatala symbolized the expansive quality of evolution.

When Obatala places the guinea hen on the ground, the Earth becomes a place that can support life systems. The guinea hen is sacred to Oshun and it has five toes, which is Oshuns sacred number. Oshun is the spirit of eroticism, fertility, and abundance. At this point in the myth, Obatala is introducing sexuality, reproduction, and the allure of the erotic into the unfolding pattern of Creation.

In order to reach the Earth, Obatala plants seeds which grow into a palm tree. Within the religion of Ifa the palm tree is regarded as the sacred tree of life. Most earth-centered religions designate a particular tree to symbolize the transformation of all things as they progress through the cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth. When a Myth refers to a deity bringing the tree of life to Earth, it is a reference to the existence of natural laws which guide the development of ecological systems on the planet.

Obatala reaches the ground and then begins to make humans. At the point Obatala becomes intoxicated, and the task of finishing Creation is given to Oduduwa. In mythic terms, this part of the creation story suggests that the unfolding of evolution can be flawed. Defects occur in Nature and the Ifa Creation myth reflects this truth. Ifa cosmonology tends to describe the world as it is and not as it should be.

The fact that the task of Creation was taken from Obatala and given to Oduduwa appears to be a reference to the Natural Law of entropy. That law says that once an ecological system is set in motion it always moves towards inevitable extinction. By placing Oduduwa in charge of Creation, the myth is suggesting that there is awo, or a mystery beyond the visible universe and beyond the inevitability of death. Oduduwa is the womb of darkness through which all rebirth emerges.

When Obatala agrees to keep his White Cloths unsoiled, it is a promise to continue the struggle for perfection in a flawed universe. Without this struggle there is no existence, only primal unity. Primal unity is described in Ifa scripture as the loneliness of the Ancestors in Ikole Orun 8888.

Excerpt taken from Awo Falokun Fatumbi